Feather Transformation

The weather was freezing cold, and snowflakes drifted through the air.

Chen Xuan lay prone in the thick snow, carefully concealing himself. Then he pulled the sheet of paper from his chest and glanced over it again.

"The Twelve Spiritual Qi Breathing Method is indeed incredibly profound..."

This was a Qi Refining breathing method he had obtained from the Fat Yellow Man. The handwriting looked rather familiar... it had been written by Wang Chan.

During the three days since leaving Willow Town, Chen Xuan had read it over and over several times. Even now, he still felt heartfelt admiration and emotion.

A good thing was a good thing. Even if it had been written by an enemy, that could not hide its true nature.

"Is this the Yellow Millet Dream?"

Was Wang Chan his junior brother, a reincarnated person, or some even more special existence?

Chen Xuan had seen similar records in ancient books. In the Ancient Era, someone had attained immortality and enlightenment in a dream, enjoying glory and wealth to the fullest. Yet when he awoke, the millet steaming in the cauldron had not even finished cooking.

That was the origin of the Yellow Millet Dream.

Someone in the ancient books had described it as "flowers reflected in a mirror and the moon reflected in water, no more than a dream."

Yet others firmly believed that everything experienced within the dream could "turn illusion into reality and reflect the present world."

"Could it be that, in Wang Chan's dream, I really was an unfilial, rebellious villain who betrayed his master and ancestors?"

Chen Xuan was puzzled. At the same time, he faintly suspected that Wang Chan had not deliberately targeted him.

Wang Chan might simply have casually mentioned a few things about him from the Yellow Millet Dream while speaking with Green Deer Mountain. Some people had heard it and laughed it off, but others had been deeply shaken and believed it without question... Thus, the subsequent chain of disturbances had been set off.

But in truth, those disturbances and the stories concerning Chen Xuan might all have been trivial matters that Wang Chan considered unimportant.

Wang Chan had already left Willow Town and gone to the Peach Blossom Garden within the jurisdiction of neighboring Peach Town, searching for the precious opportunity from his dream...

But to Chen Xuan, all of this seemed absurd.

It also made him feel a kind of condescending... arrogance.

"Even if he's reincarnated, so what? I've only got one life, and so does he. Who's afraid of whom?"

Chen Xuan muttered inwardly.

He believed the Yellow Millet Dream was not as miraculous as the rumors claimed. At the very least, Wang Chan did not know that he was a transmigrator, and he even possessed a great killing weapon like Heartfast...

Who was stronger and who was weaker remained unknown!

"This Mystic Cat Breathing Method is more profound and exquisite than Wang Chan's method in many respects."

Chen Xuan adjusted his breathing, matching it to a certain peculiar rhythm. It was the strange breathing method he had learned from the Mystic Cat Goddess.

Within Heartfast, he had possessed the Mystic Cat and sensed its unique breathing rhythm and the circulation of qi within its body. It was extraordinary, so he had immediately committed it to memory.

"This breathing method is of a higher level and far more obscure and difficult to understand."

Chen Xuan had practiced martial arts for many years and possessed abundant experience. By comparing the two breathing methods, he could easily reach a conclusion.

Chen Xuan would only use Wang Chan's breathing method as a reference and would not practice it casually. The Mystic Cat had once muttered that one should not rashly meddle with things spat out by the Yellow Millet Dream.

"Grr..."

Chen Xuan's hungry stomach suddenly growled at an inopportune moment.

"Roar!"

In the distant snowfield, a black-haired wild boar that had ventured out to forage suddenly stopped. It warily looked around, searching for danger.

"Bang!"

Chen Xuan immediately burst out of the snowbank beside him and charged over like a thunderbolt.

An hour later, in an abandoned ruined temple.

"Hiss, hiss!"

The bonfire flickered. A skinned and cleaned wild boar had been mounted above it, golden oil sizzling as it dripped down, filling the air with the aroma of roasted meat.

"Smells great."

Chen Xuan took several bottles and jars from his pack, sprinkled spices over the boar meat, then used a small sword to cut off a large piece of roasted meat.

The wild boar he had caught was not small, weighing a hundred or two hundred jin. If outsiders had been present, they would certainly have been astonished. Even experienced hunters would not dare face such a ferocious boar alone, yet Chen Xuan had captured it in the snowy night with nothing but a small sword.

Outside the ruined temple, heavy snow flew and the cold wind was as sharp as a blade.

Inside, Chen Xuan was roasting and eating meat, enjoying a rare sense of leisure.

"Eating this wild boar should be enough to cover the consumption of entering the threshold of Qi Refining."

As Chen Xuan ate, he pondered. He had practiced the Mystic Cat Breathing Method continuously for three days, and now he could feel some mysterious thing rapidly taking shape within his body.

Chen Xuan's stomach was like a bottomless pit, like a gluttonous beast with its bloody maw stretched wide. In barely half an hour, he wolfed down dozens of jin of roasted meat.

"Hah... hah..."

Suddenly, his breathing grew hurried. It was as though a flame had risen within his body, leaving him unbearably thirsty until his throat felt ready to smoke.

Immediately afterward, vast amounts of white mist steamed from his skin, carrying away countless impurities. His body turned bright red, like an iron ore being refined in a furnace.

The Mystic Cat Breathing Method had reached the threshold!

"Hot... it's too hot..."

Unable to bear it, Chen Xuan immediately stripped off his clothes, rushed out of the ruined temple, and began rolling around in the bone-chilling snow.

"Hiss, hiss!"

The snow beneath him rapidly melted, as though boiling. The water washed away the impurities discharged from his skin.

"Hiss!"

Suddenly, a golden thread as fine as a strand of hair, brilliant with light, swam out from within Chen Xuan's body.

The golden thread was extraordinarily spiritual. Born from his five organs and six bowels, it passed through his pores, carrying out the old impurities. It danced in the white mist, cleansing and purifying his body.

"I'm beginning Feather Transformation!"

Chen Xuan realized in shock that he was undergoing a transformative change, shedding his old body and gaining a new one.

"Hiss, hiss!"

Then another dazzling silver-white thread swam out from his body. It was even finer than a strand of hair, dancing through the air and shining in concert with the golden thread.

After that, more threads emerged, one after another. Some were verdant green, flashing with the luster of jade stones, while others were blazing red, like red coral in the depths of the sea, dazzling in their multicolored radiance...

"Whoosh!"

Hundreds and thousands of these radiant threads densely intertwined around Chen Xuan's body, as though they were forming a massive silkworm cocoon. Yet it looked even more like they were stitching together a garment to cover his body... a feather robe.

Feather Transformation!

An insect turned into a pupa, then broke free from the cocoon and was reborn, ultimately ascending into a higher level of life.

Just as the ignorant Mountains and Seas Era had been filled with savage beasts, when the first human put on a feather robe to cover his body, the splendid civilization of the Qi Refiners began!

Chen Xuan was undergoing this very transformation. Soon, drowsiness overcame him, and he sank into sleep in the snow. A radiant feather robe settled over him, dispelling the chill of the snow.

"Achoo!"

About an hour later, Chen Xuan was jolted awake by the cold. He pushed aside the snow above his head and crawled out from beneath it.

"Whoosh!"

Chen Xuan exhaled a mouthful of scorching breath, clenched both fists, and felt the strength within his body surge dramatically.

Originally, a single punch could produce only five hundred jin of force. Now, however, it had increased to one thousand jin.

Five hundred jin of strength had appeared out of thin air!

Moreover, the hidden injuries his body had suffered through the successive battles had completely recovered. His organs were filled with vigorous vitality, and the power of new life surged through every inch of flesh.

"I've become a 'nonhuman' existence."

Chen Xuan thought excitedly. Qi Refining really was different—the strength came far too easily!

Then he performed a set of punches in the snow. His body moved like an illusion, and every punch exploded like spring thunder, scattering all the snowflakes flying through the air.

This scene already possessed the bearing of a Martial Arts Grandmaster who had transcended the mortal world!

"The Fat Yellow Man practiced Qi Refining for a month before successfully undergoing Feather Transformation, reaching one thousand jin of strength."

"And I've only practiced for three days, yet I've already caught up with him!"

Chen Xuan had absolute faith in himself. When he practiced martial arts, he had been the top martial arts expert in Willow Town. Now that he was practicing Qi Refining, he naturally would not fall behind mediocre people.

If he encountered the Fat Yellow Man again now, he would not need to use a killing move. He could defeat him openly and honorably with his fists alone.

"Besides, I feel that this Feather Transformation seems to have been interrupted halfway through and wasn't completely successful..."

Chen Xuan frowned and recalled his condition before falling asleep.

At the time, a feather robe had indeed settled over him, but it had been woven crudely and sloppily, with gaps everywhere. It had not completely covered his body.

"Is it because I haven't practiced the breathing method for long enough and still lack sufficient mastery? Or is there some other reason?"

Chen Xuan pondered, then sighed. "I'm still far too lacking in basic knowledge about the Qi Refining World."

He had been born into poverty, with no predecessor to guide him. Everything had to be figured out on his own.

Just then.

Chen Xuan suddenly sensed something. His gaze turned wary as he looked into the distance.

"Someone's coming."

Through the vast curtain of snow, he saw a group of people walking toward the ruined temple.

"Anyone traveling at full speed in this kind of weather can't be ordinary people."

Before long, the group that had come from afar entered the ruined temple where Chen Xuan was staying.

A black-robed old man in his fifties or sixties cupped his fists toward Chen Xuan and asked, "Sir, the snow outside has grown heavy. We have traveled here from Red Crow City. Might we rest here for a while?"

The Black-robed Old Man wore a smile and behaved with courtesy.

Chen Xuan returned the greeting beside the bonfire. "This temple isn't mine. Please make yourselves at home."

Then, while turning the roasted wild boar on the rack, he sized up the group from the corner of his eye, secretly on guard.

There were three of them, both old and young.

The leading Black-robed Old Man was short and thin, with a head of white hair, a goatee, and a hint of shrewdness in his eyes.

The remaining two were about the same age as Chen Xuan and appeared to be a brother and sister.

Chen Xuan looked at the girl a couple more times. She was quite beautiful, dressed in a light-red cloud-brocade gown, with a silver-white necklace ring around her neck. The ring at her chest was slightly lifted by what lay beneath it.

She wore no makeup. Her skin was fair, and her peach-blossom eyes, seeming to hold words back, were full of spirit. When Chen Xuan looked at her, the girl openly returned his gaze, carrying a bright and alluring air.

The other young man looked far less impressive in bearing. Wrapped in black brocade robes, he was not ugly, but his face was tinged with a sickly blue-purple hue, as though he had suffered a serious illness.

"Every one of them looks strange and bizarre. They're obviously Qi Refiners."

Chen Xuan made a guess, then decided to learn some information about the Qi Refining World from the three of them.

With a warm smile, he took the initiative to speak. "Everyone, the road is long and the weather cold. I have a fire here, along with freshly roasted wild boar. Why not come over and have a taste..."

The three exchanged glances.

Before long, Chen Xuan had "easily" obtained some extremely useful information.

Outside the temple.

At this moment, the view pulled back from the sky. The mountains and plains were covered entirely in white. Beneath several towering cities that pierced the clouds, antlike figures emerged one after another, converging on the Ten Thousand Mountains of the Southern Wilderness from every direction.

The gale howled, sweeping up layer upon layer of snow.